Make Your Computer UPS Last For Hours Instead of Minutes PDF

Make Your Computer UPS Last for Hours Instead of Minutes
By ben.mcfadden in CircuitsTools
Published Nov 3rd, 2008
Introduction: Make Your Computer UPS Last for Hours Instead of Minutes

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For what would appear common sense to me, but perhaps not to all, I have all of my computers on UPS
battery backups. After getting frustrated when the power flickered one day, I immediately went out and
purchased a UPS. Well, shortly after, the power went out for longer than the battery could keep my
computer afloat. I needed a better solution!

I wanted my UPS to be able to last for at least 60 minutes in a power outage. I needed more power! My
solution: Car batteries.

Materials:
UPS that is rated at least double what you plan to draw (see step 8 to understand why).
Wire (12 awg or larger; two different colors)
Solder
Heat shrink tubing
Car battery with terminals on the top
Adapters to go from the car battery terminals to threaded rod.
Wing nuts the same size as this threaded rod
Wire crimp terminals that will fit over the threaded rod.
Plastic case for your car battery
Inline Fuse holder (radio shack)
30 amp fuse for holder (any auto store)

Tools:
Screwdrivers
Wire cutters
Wire strippers
Soldering iron
Scissors (optional)
heat gun or alternative
Drill
Drill bits
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Step 1: Evaluate Your Needs
I was trying to power two computers (desktop and file server), and two flat panel monitors. My total
power consumption was roughly 500 watts peak. (yikes!) Currently I was running on two 300 watt UPS's
(NOTE: VA is not equal to WATTS. Find the WATT rating) with one computer and one monitor on each.
Even though the two monitors were hooked up to the same computer, I needed to distribute my power
load more evenly to get longer battery life out of my petty UPS's.

CAUTION:
I discovered the hard way after nearly starting a fire and destroying a UPS that you need one that is
rated at least twice the wattage you are consuming. They can't handle being run for longer than a few
minutes at this rating, but the batteries die before it's a problem normally.

So I now knew I needed 500 watts, and I wanted 60 minutes of power.. that means:
P / V = I
500 watts / 120 volts = 4.16 ampere hours (at 120 volts)

UPS batteries are usually 12 volts, but some are wired with two batteries in series. Check yours out first
to make sure you won't need two car batteries.

So, assuming 12 volts, that means that, after adjusting for the voltage differences, I need a battery with
at least 41.6 ampere hours. (yeah, I know there's inefficiencies in the UPS, but lets keep math easy)
Step 2: Remove Battery From UPS

Unplug the UPS from the wall, and unplug all devices from it.
Remove any screws you fine, and open up the case.
If you are as lucky as I was, the battery will have terminals that you can slide off. If not, just cut the wires
as close to the battery as you can.
Once you have removed the battery, you will find something like you see in the picture

NOTE: Pay attention to polarity on the battery, and which wire went to when polarity.

Step 3: Extend Wires on UPS

The wires that are in a UPS are typically not long enough to reach much past where the battery sits. We
will need to extend them to reach our car battery.

Cut off the wire terminals (if any) on the wires from the UPS.
Strip at least 3/8 of an inch of the wire on the UPS
Strip at least 3/8 of an inch of the wire we are extending with.
I used a metal crimp to help me get a great connection, but this is optional.
Solder the wires together. This solder joint needs to be able to handle high current. We will be drawing
lots of power through here and if we have a voltage drop, the UPS won't last as long.
After making sure the joint is well soldered, place some heat shrink over it, and seal it up good.

Note: Use colors that make sense to you, and will allow you to remember the polarity
Step 4: Drill Hole for Wires

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p&frame=1&height=300"><img alt="Drill Hole for Wires"
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Next we need to make a place for the wires to leave the UPS and go to the car battery.
I drilled a hole. Use whatever size will fit both of your wires.
Add a strain relief so you can't pull on the joints you made, or on the PC board in the unit. I simply tied a
knot in each of the wires.
Next pull the wires through the hole, and carefully put the unit back together.

Note: Remember the polarity!
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Step 5: Prepare Inline Fuse Holder

Since this is high current, coming from an extremely high current source (car battery), we need a fuse.
and you want it as close to the battery as possible.
First, strip the wire on the fuse holder.
Place heat shrink on the wire.
Take your crimp wire terminal that is sized for the thread on your battery posts, or adapter and crimp it
to the wire. Then solder. Nothing is complete until it's soldered. Why solder? It conducts electricity
better. The joint won't get hot, and you will have a less drastic voltage drop.
Next shrink the tubing.

On the other side of the fuse holder, strip the wire, place the heat shrink on, strip the hot wire you've
recently added to the UPS and solder together. Once completed shrink the tubing.

Step 6: Prepare the Remaining Wire

Next, using the same strategy as connecting to the inline fuse holder, connect the Crimp terminal to the
end of your ground wire, Solder, and heat shrink.

Remember: Put the heat shrink tubing on before you put the end on.

When you done you should have something like:
Step 7: Attach to Battery, and Test

Next, attach your battery terminals to the battery, and then your wires to the terminals.
Insert a fuse in the fuse holder.
And turn on your UPS.

It will take a long time to charge the battery, but it will also last for a long time in a power outage. Under
this setup mine lasted for around 1.5 hours.

Be sure to put the battery in a plastic case with a lid, as, if something were to go wrong on the battery
you would want to contain the acid as much as possible. Also, this will prevent you from dropping
something and shorting out the battery.
Step 8: A Word of Caution
I learned this the hard way.. it cost me a UPS, and nearly a fire.

The transformer in these UPS's are cheap. They are not designed to be run at 100% capacity for
extended periods of time (such as what you will be capable of using this size battery) When I ran my
UPS's at 300 watts for more than 30 minutes, the transformer melted through the case. When I pulled
out my infrared thermometer it read nearly 400 degrees F!!

I had to redesign my system. I chose two UPS's that were rated at 600 watts each, but used 24 volts (2
twelve volt batteries in series). Under my new setup, I have over four hours of backup capacity as I have
two car batteries.
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123 Discussions

JamesN158
2 years ago
This Idea is Dangerous on many levels. First is the danger of NON‐Sealed Lead Acid batteries exploding. I
have personally seen this happen. Lead acid batteries produce hydrogen gas during operation, that is
highly explosive. One on my cousins was hospitalized while trying to jump a car, as the gas ignited and
this blew the battery coating him in acid. Car batteries are designed from high amperage and far exceed
the capacity of most any retail UPS, so now we have a great chance of electrical fire. The charging circuit
of the average UPS is not big enough to charge these large amperage batteries. Don't take my word for
it just look at the size of the transformer of a car charger in comparison to the small UPS transformer. If
you are lucky maybe all that will burn up are the rectifiers that are too small for such a load and worse
wires overheating. I don't know of any UPS's designed to output a steady 60 Amp charge? Most are set
for 6 Amps (a 10x multiplier) Many Alternators are between 90 and 140 amps and circuits to support
this for a standard Automotive battery. A UPS battery may be a 7 amp/hour battery, or in short made
for a 7 amp charge. DO the Math. If you do this maybe you will be lucky and only destroy your floor from
the acid leakage, not including what these gases are doing to your Computer as the fan(s) suck them
trough your box. One last note, Look at the size of the wires hooked up to you battery in your car and
the size used in this description. Not even close in comparison?

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AndrewA201 JamesN158
Reply 9 months ago
Yes larger or more batteries would cause more damage than smaller or fewer batteries. All lead acid
batteries have acid in them and can "explode" if shorted. The advantage is sealed batteries can sit in any
orientation without leaking.

Batteries are optionally vented to release pressure of gases formed are hydrogen and oxygen ‐‐
specifically during charging. In the chemical reactions, sulphur only bonds to the lead and back to
H2SO4. Sulphur is never vented because no other reactions are available with the chemicals Pb, H and
O.

James, what would be helpful is details of ROOT CAUSES of these fires and stories you posted. Jump
starting a car should not cause the battery to explode, so why does this happen? Some component
failed and shorted and turned part of the circuit into a heater ‐‐ and the system supported huge currents
and had NO FUSE. A battery in normal condition should also not produce enough O2 and H2 during
charging, nor have enough volume inside the battery to support an explosion that blows the top off.
Was the battery low on water or have other issues like being old and dead and thus having a very high
internal resistance?

Was the cause only ignition of O2 and H2, or was there a short or thermal run away?

Short any car battery or sealed lead acid battery ‐‐ or almost any battery ‐‐ and you have a guaranteed
fire.

Cars and equipment with large wires are so dangerous because it allows a large current and lots of
power. Any system with smaller wires would (failing a fuse), quickly melt wires ‐‐ instead of heating
giant wires into molten copper and boiling the battery until it explodes.

The most common fire during jump starting is from crossing the polarity. Be sure to hook plus to plus
and minus to minus! A safe way to jump start is to hold on to one of the clips, then put another hand on
the insulation of the wires to sense temperature. If something gets too hot, disconnect. Otherwise the
insulation will melt and the bare wires will touch the car frame(s), shorting the battery. However if you
cross polarity, you may have no time to disconnect ‐‐ it will start melting immediately!

Lastly, the large wires you talk about on cars and charging equipment is to support large current; large
wires are NOT required and in‐fact make a system SAFER. The reason car wires are large is because the
voltage is so low, and the nature of electricity. If the voltage is doubled, the current is halved; likewise
the gauge or thickness of the wires can be halved too. The efficiency of the transmission also increases
and less energy is lost to heat. Wires should support the load. You don't have to charge a large battery
at a large rate; the charger simply supplies any amount of electrons at 13 volts, and a thirsty battery will
take it. It just takes longer, but no safety issues. Lead acid batteries last longer when charged slowly too.
So charging slower will produce less potential oxygen and hydrogen.

When I was a child my dad worked at a large telcom office and data center (8 stories), where they had 6
backup generators in a separate building. However in the center of the main first floor (of the offices
and data center) was a giant room full of large tractor‐size lead acid batteries, hundreds of batteries.
They were setting in shallow water trays with 1.5 inches of water. The batteries cover short power
outages and gives time for diesel generators to startup. This has been common for data centers; with
proper use, monitoring, fuses, disconnects and ability to dilute acid it has been safe.

We could freak out about all the lithium ion batteries in our pockets, in our headphones, laptops, etc.
Any puncture is likely to start a fire that has its own oxidizer and literally cannot be put out with
anything, including unlimited water. The only thing that can stop such a fire is a giant cryogenic dump or
shower of liquid nitrogen.

You know lithium ion batteries can autocombust if their voltage is too high or too low, or if they are
charged or discharged too quickly?

This project is on‐target in the sense that using large lead acid batteries is traditionally the most efficient
commercial option. Nowadays lithium ion batteries may be effective. However the logical option for
consumers is to hack an existing UPS as done here.

We need more support, education and devices to support this type of hack. It might be that we can
apply BMS or use a microcontroller to both control charging and discharging and safety, while also
shutting the connected computers down. This way we can design our own safe and ideal system from
the ground up and leave the UPS systems out of the loop.

All systems should have:
1. fuses
2. temperature sensors on key components: batteries, power supplies, hot / weak points
3. current and voltage sensors on key components
4. ability to shutdown or disconnect components if system shows thermal run away
5. placed away from people and nice things
6. tested before put into operation

stephenkpruss AndrewA201
Reply 4 months ago
"f the voltage is doubled, the current is halved; likewise the gauge or thickness of the wires can be
halved too."

How is this so?
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AndrewA201 stephenkpruss
Reply 4 months ago
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Reply Upvote
Hi Stephen, this is Ohm's law:

V = IR

If you consider that force is V x A (Amps is the same as current, I) or VoltAmps, also known as Watts, if
you double V, A must be halved to keep the same Watt value.

This fundamental concept is for a simple circuit but holds true for power delivery.

Voltage is potential, or difference in electrical potential between two points. The analogy of water in a
pipe, and water pressure, compared to electricity in wire is OK but falls short. This part of the physics of
electricity is non‐intuitive.

VA or Watts are a measure of force. Watts over time, Watt‐hours, is a measure of power or energy.

High power transmission lines only work because they operate at huge voltages, 500k Volts or more;
they send enormous power through relatively tiny wires.

Have you noticed that any fuse, breaker, switch or relay only shows an Amp rating? It is designed for
that maximum current amount, regardless of the voltage.

In summary: electricity transmission is more efficient at higher potential.

Another practical application of this is common AC power in the world as either 120VAC or 240VAC. If
you look at characteristics of a 120VAC local system versus a 240VAC local system, you will see distinct
differences:

1. Circuits and breaker (fuses): the lowest USA breakers are commonly 15 amp. In places like UK, you will
have two or three different types of fuses with dedicated wiring: 3 amp, 5 amp, and 13 amps breakers.
2. Wiring: 120VAC copper conductor is much thicker than 240VAC conductor since it has to flow double
the current. Insulation can be thinner, relative to 240VAC wire. 240VAC wire is thinner because less
current will for the same power (Watt) rating. Insulation must be much thicker because the higher
potential will leak through the insulation, not to mention the higher voltage is far more dangerous.
3. GFI. USA only requires GFI circuits near sinks such as kitchen and bathroom. Because 240V is so much
more dangerous, Europeans often have whole‐house GFI that are better performing and more sensitive
at detecting power leakage than USA GFI systems.

Voltage is not what kills, it is current.
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JamesN158 AndrewA201
Reply 9 months ago
Perhaps you missed the fact that the UPS uses SEALED lead acid batteries. Good SLS's have a AGM
adaptation to recirculate these explosive gases. it is not only a gel acid silicate. From wikipedia "More
importantly, gas recombination was used to make batteries that were not "watered" and could be called
maintenance‐free. The one‐way valves were set at 2 psi, and this was high enough for full recombination
to take place. At the end of charge when oxygen was evolved from overcharge on the positive plate, it
traveled through the shrinkage cracks in the gel directly to the negative plate (made from high surface
area pure sponge lead) and "burned" up as fast as it was made. This oxygen gas and the hydrogen
adsorbed on the surface of the sponge lead metal negative plate combined to make water that was
retained in the cell.". Your car battery only has a open vent for the gases and are meant to keep down
liquid bubbling, and to what you described in your message the generators and or batteries were in a
separate room. This was done for a reason, perhaps you did not investigate the construction of the
room? Ever notice the forced air vents, they where not just for heat! When I got my degree in electronic
I studied batteries as part of electronics and as a Biomed/imaging engineer working in hospital all my life
I am well aware of these backup power systems as they had to be certified to the government and
JCAHO (Joint Commission). You might get the point I come from a position of authority, meaning I have
knowledge from experience. You are correct that the common lead acid battery will do better a a low
charge rate and this is why your automotive battery charger has a 2 AMP setting, also known as trickle
charge, and yes this would reduce the amount of gas released, but if you read the link to wikipedia, it
clearly states lead acid batteries produce hydrogen and oxygen gas. Not something I would want in a
closed environment with me in it. ‐James
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JamesN158 JamesN158
Reply 9 months ago
Typo: Good SLA's
1

Zach Laffin JamesN158
Reply 2 years ago
Okay, first yes these are acid batteries but the danger is there regardless of the use. That should be
something someone should take into consideration regardless of the project or use. Second, the ampere
output of an alternator is majority used up by the vehicle that is currently driving that alternator let
alone there are systems in place that limit the amount of power out of the alternator when not as much
is needed. Three, yes these are high output and a deep cycle car or gel battery would probably be
better, but regardless the charging does not require high amperage. These types of batteries can handle
high amperage charging for fast charging but even then you don't get an efficient charge. Ever heard of
a trickle charger or battery tender? Those charge batteries like these at even a less rate than the on
inside this UPS. Lastly the wire size is fine. the battery may be large but the load is not as large and will
only pull what it needs let alone the fact he has a fuse and recommends one. That wire size is larger than
what is inside the UPS. The wire size is based on the load using the power. Please if you are going to help
give warnings, give the right information.
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jr23
3 years ago
Seeing this is an old entry but basics were good but i see some problem the ups will trickle charge larger
batteries i use one with dead inverter section APC has a good charging but less so in the inverter section
which seems to break first confirmed by my friend electrical engineer who worked for them when they
were made in USA. but they would strain or fail if the larger battery my one is 77ah was drained low so if
depleted I charge with a larger charger and soon solar.with controller. the second problem using a car or
similar battery they vent hydrogen gas very flammable so use caution inside home ups batteries are
designed for indoor use most car batteries still outgas even so called sealled ones. i had a car battery on
charge in attached 2 car garage and it set my CO detector in the laundry room off even though i smelled
no rotten eggs smell. so if used inside in box that's mostly air tight avoid anything to spark when
charging and ventilate when open before switch or using tool that might spark especially connecting or
removing the wire. I never blew a battery but seen it mechanic got acid burn in face and battery
destroyed
1 reply
0

AndrewA201 jr23
Reply 9 months ago
In a lead acid battery there only a few reactions possible with the four elements: O, H, S and Pb. The S
only bonds with Pb and cannot escape, only H2O, O2 and H2 can come and go. There is nothing in a
battery capable of producing a compound with carbon.
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LyM3
Question a year ago on Step 2
i tried changing my ups 24v battery (2x7Ah) 1200va with 24v (2x50Ah) but the UPS shutsdown every
hour, exactly 60minutes it seems that it has a timer how do i disable this? my UPS is PROLINK
1200VA(SFC) non U version so it is not smart Ups.
0

James M.L
2 years ago
Would a smart battery charger + auto or marine battery + dc/ac inverter function as a UPS?
2 replies
0

HaroldG29 James M.L
Reply 2 years ago
Reply Upvote
You would want some type of way to feed wall power to your stuff until the power goes out as many
inverters output crap 60HZ that is absolutely horrible for your electronics. It would make no sense to
convert 120vAC down to 12vDC, then back up to 120vAC, as this wastes a tremendous amount of
energy. I would recommend 3 2‐way relays (The kind that has a common and a normally open and
closed.) and have them switch on the Inverter and connect it to the output and isolate the inverter from
mains.
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darryl.kinslow James M.L
Reply 2 years ago
Yes, that's essentially what a UPS is, except deep cycle batteries would be better.
0

schoong yein
Question 2 years ago
Hi,
I have A?? UPS with the live nad neutrel wire reversed, will it damage the charging circuit?
all of those kept on beeping even though it is plug into the wall socket.
what is the fuse rating for UPS?
0

plankieee
3 years ago
I would suggest an additional step in the procedure due the wide variety of batteries and UPS‐ measure
the open circuit voltage to the cables/wires to the batteries (with batteries disconnected). Lead Acid
(flooded) batteries (auto/marine) charged for a prolonged period (weeks/months) with a voltage above
13.2 for a 12 volt battery/system (26.4 volts for two 12 Volt batteries in series) typically at the will
shorten the life of the flooded lead acid batteries and can cause out gassing. .
I have a discontinued Cyberpower UPS 950 Watt (8 minutes) (it does not have a LED display it is about
ten years old), OpenCircuit voltage is 27.6 volts with two qty OEM gel 12 Volt 24?Hr batteries. Two
newer Cyberpower UPS models with LED displays have a 28 Volt open circuit voltage. The charging
circuitry for the batteries seem to be trickle chargers for all three UPS ‐‐‐ they NEVER turn off. This is not
good for a flooded lead acid battery. (a) never turning off, and b) the voltage being above 26.4 volts (or
13.2 volts for each 12 Volt battery) This will shorten the life of a lead acid battery. Gel Batteries require a
slightly higher float voltage. Auto (lead acid batteries) should be using float charger, the charging can
turn off as needed.
Basically, three or cells in negative battery (connected in series) has a history of low water level ‐ almost
with out a doubt caused by the difference in voltage difference required between lead acid and gel
batteries.
If one has this type of UPS (designed for gel batteries, trickle charging above 26.4 volts and one puts two
lead acid auto in series) and desires a long trouble free long life of the auto/marine batteries. The UPS
battery trickle charging circuit needs to be disabled, if float charger, the voltage of charging needs to be
adjusted, if not adjustable, disabled. Then a float charger designed and installed, if the charging circuit of
the UPS was disabled, if one desires a long‐life trouble free design.
In so doing, note ‐ chassis ground(S) are connected to battery ground.
1 reply
0

Zach Laffin plankieee
Reply 2 years ago
This may also be based on the specific UPS though. I obtained a heavier duty one from work that has a
larger charging circuit. And in some cases the ones that come with dual batteries are generally larger
circuits. The best ups to get for this is ones that are made for and run servers for companies. that is the
one I have.
0

AlanH158
2 years ago
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Reply Upvote
Car batteries are designed for high current, not deep discharge. If you actually drain the batteries
multiple times you'll find they lose capacity. There are batteries designed for deep discharge and they
will cope much better with being emptied on a regular basis.
1 reply
0

Zach Laffin AlanH158
Reply 2 years ago
I was just thinking the same thing. Why not a deep cycle card RV battery, only a couple bucks more for a
lot longer life.

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DebashishM
2 years ago
I had once done the same with one of my UPS rated 1 KVA, connected a 12V 18 AH Battery to it, instead
of the 12V 7AH that came with the UPS. It worked great for one month or two, then the UPS stopped
working altogether. The heat must be the issue, which the UPS is designed to handle. Now I have done
the same to another UPS, but this time I have connected a 120mm computer Fan inside the UPS chassis.
I use it for about 50% ‐70% load all the time. the system is mostly on all the time. It is working fine for
last 7‐8 months or more.
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abadfart
10 years ago on Introduction
Could you beef up the transformer with one from a microwave?
1 reply
0

hughes1966 abadfart
Reply 2 years ago
Transformers have winding ratios, like 4:1 or 8,000:1. You can use a bigger transformer with the same
characteristics, but you'd probably just burn up something else.
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Richard Hole
Hi Ben or whoever can help,

If a computer fan was used to blow air on to the transformer and if the case of the UPS was left open to
allow heat dissipation would that enable using much more than 50% of the UPS’ rated capacity? I have
an Upsonic Domestic DS600 600va UPS described at http://www.upsonic.com.au/pdf/domestic‐sme.pdf
. If a large battery is connected, do you think it could handle an average desktop computer and old
monitor? How many watts could it probably run at if I connected a 100 amp hour deep cycle battery and
used the fan as explained? I could measure the temperature of the transformer on the UPS with a non
contact infrared thermometer every few minutes when I first tried it. What would be the maximum safe
temperature it could reach?

Regards Richard.
1 reply
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hughes1966 Richard Hole
Reply 2 years ago
Take the UPS cases off and submerge them in a 66 Qt. tub of oil. That's how large transformers are
cooled. Oil removes much more heat than moving air.
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JacobM23
Ben, I understand that you have wired two 12V batteries in series to produce 24V, and then drawing the
24V from two UPSs which each have approximately evenly distributed loads. I have two concerns.
First, this still lacks redundancy in the sense that both batteries are in series with each other, so the
entire power system fails if either battery fails. Cost permitting, would I be correct in saying a 4 battery
setup would be superior? Two parallel sets of two batteries in series would provide this redundancy, as
well as provide double the power reservoir capacity under normal operating conditions, correct?
Second, I am concerned about overloading the UPSs with double the expected power draw. If one of
them were to fail, could the other take on the full power draw depending on which specific component
failed? Or, instead would the failed UPS and all devices connected always power down and effectively
not play an active role in the circuit? In the former situation, this could cause a fire as forewarned in the
original instructable. In the latter, perhaps this could be a safe solution to keep under the same roof as
my family. I appreciate your input, thank you.
1 reply
0

hughes1966 JacobM23
Reply 2 years ago
I suggest you study electrical engineering before attempting this. It is not a project for a hobbyist.
1

hughes1966
2 years ago
The charging issues are a cinch. I need two batteries in series to provide 24VDC. For $25 each you can
buy two battery chargers/maintainers at Sears. Hook each up to one of the batteries ‐ while they are
connected. Insert two diodes backwards in the positive lines from the UPSs to the batteries to ensure
the UPSs do not try to charge the batteries. Use AGM batteries if you don't want to risk a hydrogen
explosion.
0

darryl.kinslow
2 years ago
I wonder if this is really a cost effective solution and if it might be cheaper to just get several batteries
the size of the one that comes with the UPS.
0

Tranzfusion
I've got an old UPS ‐ just a 750va which contained a 12V 7a/h battery.
I live in a rural town in Cambodia, so obtaining a replacement battery is impossible.
I bought a small motorcycle battery which is 12V 5 a/h and sealed.
Are these safe to use in the current UPS?
Power only goes off a few seconds at a time ‐ and the ups will only power low voltage devices (eg.
router) ‐ so actual current draw will be low.
As its a smaller battery (5 a/h vs original 7/ah) ‐ i shouldn't have any issues of the invertor overheating?
Only thing i'm not sure off is the charging ‐ will the current UPS know when the motorcycle battery is
fully charged? And of course i'll need to keep the ups inside but in a more open area?
7 replies
0

jr23 Tranzfusion
Reply 3 years ago
mc battery will most likely work but purchase 2 5ah tougher from the same batch and run them in
parallel. wonder how he made out as 2014 entry
0

MikeB574 Tranzfusion
Reply 3 years ago
It depends. Motorcycles uses AGM batteries. They are different from what shown on the pictures above.
See if your battery has AGM on it. Do not use it if has it. There is something special in terms of charging
AGM, my motorcycle battery is charged with special charger. UPS charging circuit is to maintain classic
way for sealed led batteries.
0

EpbentenH MikeB574
Reply 3 years ago
depends if you have a decent ups
power shield have ups's that use AGM batteries entirely because they last longer
but your best of not using them because of overcharge caused by the ups not being able to sense the
charge of the battery (only really happens in cheap models)
0

Carlos GuillermoI Tranzfusion
Reply 3 years ago
a late response, but you can use a very simple and cheap "UPS" for Router, modem, swtich, cctv, alarm,
led light. etc. and last much longer without the lost in conversion DC to 120v AC(router adapter) to 12v
DC (router adapter) again,
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/12V‐15A‐180W‐DC‐po...
or another special for router‐modem with a 18650 lithium battery inside (interchangable) in a wallwart
format :
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5V2A‐AC‐to‐DC‐Mini...
this units supply 12v direct.
have a nice day!
0

yourdreamz Tranzfusion
Reply 6 years ago on Introduction
Hi Trazfusion,
It is ok to use a higher AH battery in place of rated battery for UPS, but lower AH battery should not be
used with it as the Charge Current in UPS is set according to the rated battery and that could overheat
and damage the lower AH battery.
0

zardiw yourdreamz
Why in the world would anybody use a LOWER AH battery?.....lmao.........z
0

tperraut zardiw
Reply 4 years ago
Because he/she lives in Cambodia and explained that's the only batteries he/she can get or can be
affordable. Basically lots of motorcycles, scooters... in Asia, so getting standard batteries for them is
easy.
In this case, the UPS will not last as long. Also that's a mismatch of batteries, so not good for the life of
the battery. But as long as you pay close attention to the battery, top off the water (using distilled water
only) as needed, it will "work".
0

CharchitR
3 years ago
Sir! I want my UPS to work as a surge protection only as i have installed a 220AH battery in my house
paired with a 700VA inverter i have a small HTPC with me but battery of my UPS died now i don't want
the battery of UPS to charge when power goes off as then it will be charging by my inverter which then
will increase the load
Help!
0

Harold IanT
3 years ago
In Connection to this. I have this 12V/20A Power Supply Distribution Box for CCTV System with UPS
feature. It Says use 12V Lead Acid Battery. but no specific value.
My question is? is it OK to use Lead Acid Car Battery just like in your post?
My battery is Panasonic NS40L 34b19L 12 V 32AH
http://www.ebay.ph/itm/122149335600?_trksid=p20603...

1

abdo421997
3 years ago
I made it!!!
I also put in two cooling fans (one sucks in and the other blows out air)
I ran it for hours (although only a 120 watt laptop)
It was as cold as in idle
Before it heated up alot even when used for 10 minutes
I am using a seperate charger (20AH) to charge my 100AH flooded battery (I know this is not ideal but I
change one each year already so it doesn't matter, the cheaper the better )
And it is working like a charm

2 replies
0

RamK4 abdo421997
Reply 3 years ago
how long can you run your pc now? how many hours?
0

AbdoS22 RamK4
Reply 3 years ago
It's a 90 watt laptop
I run it till the electricity comes back again
4 hours
Didn't try more because didn't have a power outage more than 4 hours
0

brantgoose
4 years ago
Would like to see with li‐ion batteries how to make the battery with inverter just turn on when the
power goes out.
1 reply
0

EpbentenH brantgoose
Reply 3 years ago
DO NOT use lithium ion battery's the CANNOT handle the load and stress that a ups would put on them.
your better of with lead acid the last a lot longer when left to sit
0

whisto
3 years ago
Could someone help me to understand if the following need could be possible?
I need 100 watt device to last for 7 hours. Can it be made with ups and batteries or any other way??
Thanks in advance
0

fridelain
4 years ago
FIRST unplug devices, then the UPS.
Do NOT run the UPS unearthed. Make sure the socket you are plugging the UPS on is properly earthed.
0

richfiddler11
4 years ago
Nice instructable, but in the statement "P / V = I 500 watts / 120 volts = 4.16 ampere hours (at 120
volts)" you're actually solving for Amps, *not* amp‐hours. The two are *extremely* different ‐‐ Ampere
is the unit of electrical current flow and Amp‐hours is a measure of battery capacity. This may seem like
a picky detail to some, but getting your units wrong can mean the difference between something
working well vs having it catch on fire/blow up.
0

Djhans73
4 years ago
I have an APC 650 VA 410W Max UPS the battery is a 12V 12Ah. The output of the charger is 12 V 11Ah. I
also have an EverStart power sport battery ES‐T16L and there are no indications of the output except it
is 12 volt. I want to use this battery for the UPS. The battery is sold by Walmart and made by Johnson
Controls Battery Group, INC. , Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Do you think this is feasible?
0

anand ranjith kannan
4 years ago
can i use lithium ferrous phosphate batteries??? if i add a good charging and discharging circuit with
it.....does is replaces lead acids.......?
2 replies
0

tperraut anand ranjith kannan
Reply 4 years ago
Do not charge that kind of battery using the UPS circuit. So no, do not do that. Instead, buy a proper
charger for your batteries, and use a power inverter (anyone powerful enough will do). What you will
miss is a way to switch to battery power as soon as the power is out. You could have a cheap UPS for
that, they now come with USB cable, and you can configure your operating system to shutdown when
the UPS tells the battery is low.

1) power goes out
2) UPS automatically keep the PC running
3) within a few minutes, the UPS battery is low, so it tells the PC (through its USB connection) to
shutdown.
4) PC Shuts down properly. (so the files are not corrupted...)
5) you go to your battery bank, connect the inverter and turn it on
6) you power what matters for you according to the batteries size/capacity and inverter size/capacity. It
might be your fridge and your freezer ($ in food in them) more than your PC. Assume it's PC you need
7) plug the PC to the extension cord that is connected to the inverter.
8) enjoy
9) monitor when the battery will be low. The inverter might turn itself off without warning and you
might corrupt some files on the PC if the power goes off.
10) low power, shutdown the PC properly. Turn it off.
11) recharge the batteries and go to step 5, or the power is back on and you just recharge the batteries

On a regular basis (every month is good), take care / check your batteries .
Keep in mind that you can likely do without a full PC. If you have a laptop around, it will do much better
on batteries, and has its own that will last a few hours already. With no mess... Also if you need internet
access, you likely need to power more equipment (cable modem or DLS modem, maybe wifi router), and
hope your internet service still works during the outage. (use your cell phone if/while it works for
internet access as needed).

Then again, a cell phone and a small battery pack is likely a more efficient way to conduct business when
you have no power. They are portable and made to run on batteries :‐)
Make sure to not spend more $ than it's really worth to you.
Another great option (to keep PC, fridge, freezer and a few low power lights and USB battery chargers
going) is a good set of battery jump cables, a car with gas in its tank, and the inverter I mentioned above.
Park the car outside of the home (NEVER run inside a garage, even with the garage door fully opened),
connect the jumper cables to the inverter at one end and to the car battery (+) and engine mount (‐) .
Idle the car. Turn off AC/ventilation, lights, radio... Make sure you lock it and have the keys to get in later
on. Enjoy power for many hours, without the need to buy a generator...
0

anand ranjith kannan tperraut
Reply 4 years ago
Thank you so much..!......i dont have much load given on a daily basis.....anyway thanx for that last
tip......
0

zardiw
Not Nice
Inappropriate
Spam
Reply Upvote
They make little 'maintenance' chargers that will keep a battery topped off and also will charge them
when they go below max. They are totally automatic and can be left hooked up to the battery.
This will solve any problem about the UPS charger getting overworked on charging a larger battery.
Also, I would use Deep Cycle batteries.
z
1 reply
0

tperraut zardiw
Reply 4 years ago
The UPS charging circuit is still on. It will take some electronic skills outside of many reading this article
(given the batteries questions, this is not derogatory) to ensure that the UPS will not charge the
batteries, and only the battery charger will do it.
At some point, this just becomes "not the right tool for the job"
0

Ozilary
4 years ago
Hi, I have a 2000va ups but the batteries only last a few minustes when there is power outage, can I use
2 12volt, 100AH and will the ups b able to charge the batteries full and how long can it possibly last?
1 reply
0

tperraut Ozilary
Reply 4 years ago
what's your load? and can you connect less things on the UPS? For instance, your printer should not be
connected to it (to the battery powered plugs on it, but connect all to the other plugs on the UPS that
will protect from power surges). Same for your powered speakers if you have some (and so forth).
See my comments above: car batteries are not the right batteries for that. also could you save the work
you really need to a USB stick and use a cheap < $300 laptop maybe during an outage? Compared to
batteries + UPS + batteries Charger + cables... it all adds up.
0

tperraut
4 years ago
A few comments many years after you made this:
‐ kudos on using fuses.
‐ the charger in the UPS will attempt to charge the battery as if it was a Gel cell lead acid battery. That's
close but not the same as your flooded lead acid car battery. Basically it will not just take long to charge
it, it can also damage and short its life.
‐ a car battery is not made to be discharged deeply. You would be better with some deep discharge
battery (like 2x 6V Golf cart batteries). Some Marine battery would be better than car battery although
not as good as deep cycle batteries. Both types are cheap in very big supermarkets / warehouses.
‐ you have some flooded battery (in a case, that's very good) inside your home. That's not ideal. You
need to check the water level, especially with the UPS charger that will act as a float charger, but also
possibly trying to overcharge, so evaporating the water faster. Box or not, you want to make sure the
battery will not be moved to its side to keep the acid inside. A more expensive like a Optxxx yellow top
AGM battery would not have the dangers of leaking acid, so overall safer inside a home.
‐ you might want to have some kind of 12V fan, possibly connected to the computer, and bowing some
fresh air across the UPS electronics, as you already found out that customer‐grade UPS are not made to
run long time. Commercial UPS (to be used with servers...) are more expensive, but can run a long time.
If you find some used one for free or super cheap, that can be worth it.
‐ batteries sizing. If say you want 50Amps for 1 hour, you cannot use a 50Amps hour battery, as it would
be rated to do something more like 5 amps for 10 hours. The higher the amps you need, the lower the
real capacity of the battery. You also do not want to over discharge a battery, so even with a deep cycle
battery, plan on 80% discharge maximum. Your UPS might stop at the right voltage, or not. i.e. it might
be set to stop sooner to not damage the battery it came up with. Check online for proper battery sizing,
and real amps you can expect. Battery manufacturers sites have good info usually.
0

tperraut
4 years ago
A few comments many years after you made this:
‐ kudos on using fuses.
‐ the charger in the UPS will attempt to charge the battery as if it was a Gel cell lead acid battery. That's
close but not the same as your flooded lead acid car battery. Basically it will not just take long to charge
it, it can also damage and short its life.
‐ a car battery is not made to be discharged deeply. You would be better with some deep discharge
battery (like 2x 6V Golf cart batteries). Some Marine battery would be better than car battery although
not as good as deep cycle batteries. Both types are cheap in very big supermarkets / warehouses.
‐ you have some flooded battery (in a case, that's very good) inside your home. That's not ideal. You
need to check the water level, especially with the UPS charger that will act as a float charger, but also
possibly trying to overcharge, so evaporating the water faster. Box or not, you want to make sure the
battery will not be moved to its side to keep the acid inside. A more expensive like a Optxxx yellow top
AGM battery would not have the dangers of leaking acid, so overall safer inside a home.
‐ you might want to have some kind of 12V fan, possibly connected to the computer, and bowing some
fresh air across the UPS electronics, as you already found out that customer‐grade UPS are not made to
run long time. Commercial UPS (to be used with servers...) are more expensive, but can run a long time.
If you find some used one for free or super cheap, that can be worth it.
‐ batteries sizing. If say you want 50Amps for 1 hour, you cannot use a 50Amps hour battery, as it would
be rated to do something more like 5 amps for 10 hours. The higher the amps you need, the lower the
real capacity of the battery. You also do not want to over discharge a battery, so even with a deep cycle
battery, plan on 80% discharge maximum. Your UPS might stop at the right voltage, or not. i.e. it might
be set to stop sooner to not damage the battery it came up with. Check online for proper battery sizing,
and real amps you can expect. Battery manufacturers sites have good info usually.
0

zardiw
All this talk about H2 buildup is BS. There's already H2 in the air.....and the minimal amount that is
generated when this low power charging occurs isn't going to generate enough H2 to matter, unless you
have this system in a small box or something.........
1 reply
0

RedstoneM zardiw
Reply 4 years ago
There is not much H2 in the air, even less than CO2 in the air.
0

bubba007
11 years ago on Step 8
Play it safe:
Remember charging a car battery indoors can release harmful (toxic) gas fumes. Be careful where you
put the batteries
11 replies
0

RedstoneM bubba007
Reply 4 years ago
Use VRLA batteries then.
0

rhemus bubba007
Reply 5 years ago on Step 8
Hydrogen gas is not toxic. But it does displace oxygen and it is highly flammable. This is the gas that is
released from chemical reaction of charging a lead acid battery. As long as you have decent ventilation
around a lead acid battery this shouldn't be a problem.
0

ReCreate bubba007
it releases hydrogen and oxygen, which is what is already in the air, along with CO2 of course
0

ben.mcfadden ReCreate
True, but if the hydrogen builds up, as is possible, it could be an explosive danger.
0
0

Spokehedz ben.mcfadden
Hydrogen is lighter than 'Air' so it will float up and out of the way of the hot things.

Oxygen is only explosive in high concentrations, which is to say it has to be very pure to do so. Chances
are, it is not going to have the correct mix for it to be combustible at any level that you could create with
just 2 batteries.

Combined with the fact that it only produces these gases when it is charging and not discharging.......
You should be pretty safe. Just don't keep it all contained in a super enclosed space and you should be
fine.
0

dejvv
Hi, I have 2x deep cycle marine batteries 12v 90ah, will this ups be able to charge them? please click on
the link for the datasheet
http://www.powerwalker.com/datasheet/Line‐Interactive/PowerWalker%20VI%201000%20LCD.pdf
0

ErnnieS
i think you should buy the 600 watts Ups for the comfort on handling it.. it is easy right? rather than
buying two UPs
maintenance free battery is much better...
0

questlima.
hi there a gr8 tut i am going to have lots of fun building one btw i wanted to know if it is possible to
connect two computer ups and make it act like one ups, i know it can be done with an inverter, but not
sure with the ups, if it is possible then can you do a tut on how to wire two PC ups thank you
0

ladyscrubber
Great plan only I use gel cell batteries so have no issues with adding water or any other thing.
Maintenance free only way to go. Do you have any issues with over charge on the battery? My UPS
doesn't like any battery voltage above 13 volts but yet puts out 13.5 to charge the battery. My battery
levels off at 13.4 volts and the UPS when turned on goes into fault mode and blinks red light and beeps.
Once I lower the voltage at the battery down to 13 volts or less then all is good. Any ideas??
1 reply
0

zardiw ladyscrubber
What's the make of that UPS?......So I'll make sure not to buy one.......z
0

J_R_S
One final note (I can't seem to find any way to edit my original comment below):
I made a mistake about how much power you can get out of the 35ah (amp hour) AGM battery. I was
thinking in DC terms (my background is in Solar Power systems). If looking at your orginal calculation:
500 watts / 120 volts = 4.16 ampere hours (at 120 volts)
...and converting your 4.16 amp hours @ 120 volts to the DC amp rating of the AGM battery @ 12 volts,
it comes to 41.6ah DC amps @ 12 volts. So, the 35ah battery AGM battery comes up a little short, you
can still draw 500 watts peak out of, it will just drain the battery a little faster than a 45ah battery.
0

J_R_S
This is an incredibly well‐done article and totally accurate for
everything except one Very Important Warning: The batteries inside
computer UPS units are "sealed lead acid" AGM batteries. These are the
only kind of battery that can safely be charged inside the house or any
enclosed area. Other types of lead acid batteries (such as standard Auto
and Marine batteries) ‐‐ even if they say "sealed" or "maintenance
free" or "deep cycle" always put out some hydrogen gas as a by‐product
of the chemical activity inside the battery while it is charging.
Remember the Hindenburg? Hydrogen gas is explosive, odorless and
colorless. It is lighter than air and will rise to the top of an
enclosed space where it will build up if there is not really good
ventilation to the outside at the top of the enclosed space. At some
point the build‐up can become dangerous and can be ignited by a spark,
resulting in fire or explosion.
This is something people who use
Solar Panels to store electricity in multiple battery banks find out about
early on. In this application, the hydrogen gas wouldn't be as much of a
problem because unless you have power outages very frequently you won't
be re‐charging the battery all the time. But still, it's simply not a
good idea to charge any lead acid battery in an enclosed space other
than those identified as "sealed lead acid AGM".
AGM
batteries are more expensive than standard auto batteries, but they will
last 2 to 3 times longer, so in the end the total cost is the
same. You can buy a 35ah AGM battery online (or at Harbor Freight in their solar section) for about $65
that will provide 60 watts for an hour (the model UB 12350) ‐‐ and of course there are 55ah AGMs and
much larger available as well.
The other option would be to place the automobile‐type battery outside next
to the wall of the house with a small roof over it and maybe some wire screen
around it to keep it out of reach and then run the wires inside to the
UPS units. You would use more wire, but if you use the heavy gauge #10
or #8 wire your voltage drop won't be significant.
0

callones
I have been interested to try this but reading the comments made think twice. I think it would be better
not to modify the UPS, buy a car battery and an inverter, then plug the UPS to the inverter. It's like
tricking the UPS that it's still on the mains.lol
3 replies
0

OCPik4chucallones
To elaborate on Ben's response, doing your method, while being technically a safer for permanent
installation would give you battery power to a device it would not be an automatic switchover when the
power goes out. Thats the main advantage you get by using an actual UPS is the failover. Though you
can make your own but you kind of lose the safety side lol. However, though the OP didnt do it, what
you can do is close this stuff up a little better. If you get a plastic bin with a lid (larger tuperware) you
can put the battery inside this case to protect it you just need to put air holes or a vent slot into the box
so the battery can 'breathe' That way once you get passed the initial wiring the setup is much more safe
again accidental touching, etc. I am aware this post is old but hopefully this helps someone else too :)
0

OCPik4chuOCPik4chu
ReplyUpvote
Additionally, if/when I do this I will be adding a small 12v fan inside the UPS units themselves to cool the
circuitry and transformer. Since the devices 'cant' last very long they are not built to be run constantly
on battery so if you are trying to greatly extend this time make sure to take precautions so you dont hurt
yourself or the UPS or worse yet, start a fire. Which I can tell you from personal experience that
electronics have amp/watt ratings for a reason.

Check temps/voltages of all parts of your unit while running on utility power Vs battery to make sure
nothing will happen. The last thing you want is to find your DIY UPS set your house on fire while you
were out of town because you didnt give something enough cooling or used wiring with too low amp
rating ;)
0

ben.mcfaddencallones
Interesting solution.. I like the safety in your concept, but it involved a manual switch‐over, which
unfortunately wouldn't work for what I was doing. Good thinking though!
0

garfnodie
I have a UPS that I'm needing to replace the battery on, I'm thinking of getting two, or maybe even three
replacement batteries for it, ones that are designed for this particular UPS (12v, 4AH, 20HR is printed on
the existing battery). Can I hook them in series without any issues? I'm actually not even going to be
using it for a computer, but for a set of decent speakers with my ipod hooked up and an alarm clock so
that they all continue to work for hours even if the power goes out during the nasty storms we can get
here in the midwest. Three batteries may be overkill, but they're pretty cheap and I want many hours of
power, and these aren't high current devices, so I'm hoping it'll work just fine. Will the charger in the
UPS be able to charge all three batteries just fine, even if it take a few days, that's fine.
1 reply
0

ben.mcfadden garfnodie
You can put the batteries in Parallel, but NOT in Series. Otherwise, that sounds perfectly reasonable.
Make sure you don't get a buzz in your audio equipment on the inverter before you spend the money on
the batteries. I've had less than stellar experience with power inverters and audio equipment.
0

shastalore
Just be sure to spot check and take electrical and temperature measurements as you modify your rig, as
it was never intended to function more than a few minutes.

I recently had the idea of converting my APC Back‐UPS BK300C into a handy portable 120VAC power
station, by replacing the internal OEM 7amp‐hr battery with an external 36amp‐hr deep‐cycle battery
pack, adding a carrying handle on top, and converting the wired‐in 120VAC power cord to a 120VAC
chassis socket with a removable 120VAC power cord.

But I soon discovered the the OEM internal battery is intentionally in a self‐sacrificing mode during
power outages: The internal circuit sounds a continuous alarm when the internal battery discharges
down to 11.4 volts ‐and will continue to discharge until the battery is dead. Any 12 volt lead‐acid battery
that discharges down to 11.0 volts is generally considered dead anyway, and should be replaced with a
new battery.

Also, the unit is not fan cooled, so someone's suggestion to run the unit at no more than half the rated
output wattage (when in extended emergency backup mode) is sound advice. But the large internal
transformer is mounted to the outside steel case, which still functions as an effective heat sink.

After some deliberation, I simply decided to put the perfectly functioning unit back to together again,
with no modifications done, and left it on the street curb with a "FREE & WORKS" sign, where it
vanished after a couple of hours.

It was a pity, as the internal circuitry is both efficient and smart, discharging the 12VDC battery in direct
proportion to the 120VAC load. And the two heavy‐duty 120VAC electrical outlets would have been
more than welcome in the field.

I'll just have to pick up another Vector iMobile Microslim Power Inverter VEC414S instead, for two
120VAC outlets in the field.
0

somoney
Nice DIY. I think your pushing those particular UPS's beyond red‐line. I wouldn't want that running on
battery when I'm not around to watch it (ie. sleeping). DIY'ers getting ready to duplicate this work may
want to look at APC XS series UPS's as they come pre built with cooling fans for the inverter.
0

adam 101
Take this as a grain of salt, I have no real world battery experience to back me up, but I thought that car
batteries were for short high amp discharge (starter motors) and that putting this kind of load on them
would quickly destroy them. Furthermore, deep cycle marine batteries should be used for "low" amp
"long term" power draws. I am pretty sure I learned this while reading about a robot that needed two
marine batteries to haul it's 300 pound frame around.
0

Zerocool818
I would ( if i do this) use sealed lead acid batteries you know they have a reason to use sealed ones: they
are smaller lighter and safer and can give you more charge cycles and longer run time and they are
cheaper you can get some sealed scooter batteries for 20 dollars online and they are like 50 amps each
and two of them can fit in the place of one of yours and have you considered using computer fans to
cool the inverters so they dont get damaged? wow that was a mouthful. nice setup anyway!
0

gagan9897175966
hey ben did u connected two UPS's to a single battery. I am worried about the charing of the battery cos
i was told that UPS cannot charge a Car battery. do u have any charging issues in this instructables. i am
waiting for ur reply.
also i have 3 PCs two with CRTs and one with 15inchs TFT how much power do i need for the whole, i am
currently using 2 USPs, 1 550 VA and other is 500 Va with which i am using one to power Just monitors
and others to power TFT and 3 CPS. and its working fine. (I think) i am fed up of the backup its less that 5
minutes.
please guide me.
Thanks
Gagan
India
2 replies
0

ben.mcfadden gagan9897175966
I have been using this system for 2 years now and it works great. The two UPS's do charge the batteries,
although it does take a full week to get out of the "quick" charge and into the trickle charge. If you need
to charge it faster, use a car‐battery charger after an extended outage. Having two UPS's has shown no
adverse affects. If anything, it just charges the batteries faster.

To determine how much power you need, I recommend using the Kill‐A‐Watt meter
(http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/travelpower/7657/) to determine how much power each item
draws. Be sure to measure VA, as that's what most UPS's are rated in, although Watts are useful too.

Remember, if you are going to make your UPS system last for more than the time a stock battery will
last, be sure you are putting less than 50% of their rated capacity on each UPS.
0

gagan9897175966
nothing will happen dear friends. what do u think about almost everyone in the world is using inverter
systems (dont forget with battries) inside there homes or in the basements of there homes. what will u
think about it.
0

superfreak77
Hi, noob on this board but not to DIY stuff; Question; Is the charger on the UPs callibrated for the batt
size that it came with? I'm using a 480VA UPS and used it to charge to charge the small non‐deep cycle
battery on my motorcycle. Didn't leave it on long for this reason: How does the internal circuitry know
when a 12v battery of a given size is 100% charged? What happens if you replace it for a larger A/H unit?
I want to increase the lifespan of the UPS. Thanks!
4 replies
0

hogey74 superfreak77
A few points and bear in mind I have only been learning about this recently.
1. Its the voltage that tells the charger how well its doing. For standard Lead acid batteries they are full
when they read between about 13.8 and 14.7 volts.
2. Calcium‐infused batteries apparently are full at a higher voltage so you need to be aware of that ‐ you
might be over or under charging.
3. I think that so long as you are using the same type of battery with the same charging needs as the
original one it should work, it will just might take longer to top up.
4. It won't be ideal but should get you there!
0

abadfart superfreak77
id go with a deep cycle if i were you
0

ben.mcfadden superfreak77
The charging circuit checks the voltage of the battery to decide when it's charged. It isn't tracking the Ah
that it is dumping into the battery. In other words, putting on a higher capacity battery (more Ah), so
long as it is the same voltage, will work fine.
0

superfreak77 ben.mcfadden
Cool, thanks. FWIW; Here's some data gathered in tonight's hook up of the 10 amp/hr bike battery. Note
that by the middle of the test, the UPS kicked in to compensate for a low voltage coming in from the
mains. I don't really know how it works but it does appear that it stopped charging and may even have
drawn from the battery. I left the serial line attached to see the % charge on the pc screen; With a
voltmeter hooked to the bike battery; 12.67v at first charge, ‐mains v. 123volt, pc displays batt at 92%
charge. 12.99v after 10 mins, ‐mains voltage up to 133v , pc display at 96% Turned the bike switch with
lights on; ‐Bike switch on 60 secs, charge dropped to 74% ‐Bike switch off, and 60 secs later, charge now
at 86% 5 min. after switch off, charge now at 92% 20 min. after switch off, charge at 96% ‐Same as when
it stopped charging in the first stage.
0

farna
If you don't need quite as much power as a car battery, consider a lawn tractor battery. Same type as a
car, just smaller. A motorcycle battery would work, but most of them have about the same power as the
original UPS battery.

The main caution with ANY automotive type replacement battery is that hydrogen gas is produced when
charging (only small amounts when trickle charging like this) and they have liquid acid inside. Make sure
they don't get tipped!!
1

vtsnaab
I have easy access to used UPSs and have been doing this without any safety concerns for over a decade.
Bear in mind there are NO SMOKERS in my house/office ‐ EVER, but truly ‐ using a UPS to process
battery power into 120VAC is a great idea as is boosting the run‐time of your UPSs.

I add only one warning which has been said here before repeatedly:

DO NOT OVERLOAD YOUR UPS !

The bigger battery is for stand‐alone power or added runtime ‐ NOT for supporting a load beyond about
60‐70% of the UPS's rated capacity.

If you can find them:
My all time favorites are the really old, metal‐cased APC units connected with solid house wire to lawn
tractor batteries.

The hydrogen gas released by any lead/acid battery has a very obvious odor and is unlike anything else ‐
and I have never, never, never had any problem doing this indoors.

One important point IMO:
Since there is always the possibility for leakage I recommend ALWAYS placing any such battery or
batteries into a plastic tub like a dollar store dishpan to catch any dirt or possible leakage if anything
ever needs catching.

Solar enthusiasts:
If you seek out your local PC recycling freak who has connections with places that recycle servers and big
UPSs you can use those super‐high quality inverters with your batteries and save a bundle instead of
branded solar‐only inverters.

Last word of my opinion on this matter ‐> this IS the Instructables site for DIY'ers and if anyone who
reads these is too afraid to experiment and learn by doing then this I would recommend ONLY buying
ready‐made, UL approved devices and leaving the DIY to enthusiastic DIY'ers.

Happy DIY'ing !
0

Blackice504
people new car batts are sealed now days so if they are those type its possible to use a automotive batt
but if not you can allways have the batts in say a lundry and just run a cable but the other point those
power socket ups are too small even the APC700 ( 700watt UPS ) <<< Big box for people who not know
they would have trouble keeping the batts in float but also keeping any car batt with wet cell yes the
wet cell will dry and make a nice fire so keep an eye out for this.
0

drzcyy
hydrogen or oxygen is not toxic by themself, besides the explosive nature when combined. However,
charging and discharging lead‐acid batteries indoors will release microscopic sulphuric acid droplets due
to bubbling (or gassing) of the acid in the cells (try leaving a piece of paper over the battery for
sometime, the paper will turn color over the ventilation holes!).This has been known to cause damage
to lungs, as well as oxidation of metal parts in the vicinity. The way to overcome this is to cover the
ventilation holes of the cells with steel/iron (but not stainless steel ok) wool used for cleaning pots and
pans in the kitchen.The wool will be oxidised first, rendering the released sulphuric acid harmless.
1 reply
0

ben.mcfadden drzcyy
Wouldn't air current solve this problem? Like, perhaps, and air conditioner? I'm in Arizona, so the unit is
on pretty much 24/7. I don't think you could get much more air circulation.
0

BretteJaro
The main problem you will find is the batteries will be damaged pretty quickly (6‐12 months) because
the float voltage of the SLA batteries is higher than that of the flooded cell batteries. You will need to
keep a close eye on the electrolyte level because it will drop pretty quickly. Another byproduct is higher
standby power consumption because the UPS will keep trying to charge the batteries, but in reality, will
just be disassociating the water, or gassing.
1 reply
0

fred_dot_u BretteJaro
If you have to add water to a flooded lead acid battery, always use distilled water. Anything else will
contain minerals or contaminants and reduce the life of the battery substantially!
0

Normjr
This is a very good idea! However, as others have pointed out, it is very unsafe to use a "Standard" or
"Regular" automotive, RV, or similar lead‐acid battery indoors. If you check around, you will find that the
sealed lead‐acid and gel‐cell batteries similar to the originals used in the UPS, with similar voltage, and
amp‐hour specs to the larger, automotive, batteries are probably available locally, for about the same
price as the automotive style. I discovered four in a commercial server UPS that was given to me.
0

loki0347
Actually I've seen a single car battery have it's excess hydrogen explode from the sparks thrown off by
detaching a charger under load...
0

tariqa03
So i dont need to change my existing charging unite of the UPS
1 reply
0

ben.mcfadden tariqa03
If your UPS currently uses a 12V sealed lead acid battery, it is 100% safe to hook that same charging
circuit up to a standard car battery. It will, logically, take far longer to charge this car battery than the
small lead acid battery, but it will work. If your UPS uses a 24V sealed lead acid battery (OR two 12V
batteries wired in SERIES), you will need to hook it up to TWO car batteries wired in SERIES.
0

ReCreate
well pretty much all upses have the terminal that slides out on the battery Also,Why would it melt?
Inverters are the same thing and they wont melt,But i have an idea Put some sort of heat sink and
ventilation
4 replies
0

What happened was the transformer inside the UPS overheated. They're not designed to run at full
capacity for longer than the stock battery can handle. Inverters are designed to run for longer, they have
a heat sink that is sized appropriately.
0

ReCreate ben.mcfadden
umm...thats what i said,kinda Put a heat sink and all
0

You're right. That is what you said. My appologies! Yes, that would theoretically work. Given that it was
the transformer that overheated (in my scenario at least), I would simply recommend some ventilation.
Like, perhaps a PC fan that gets automatically switched on when it kicks over to battery mode? And
some additional holes drilled into the outer casing in the right places? Since I had already overheated it,
I wasn't sure how much damage had been done, so I elected to replace the unit. And my new units are
very over‐sized. In any case, be careful, and be smart about it.
0

ReCreate ben.mcfadden
Umm...yeah A pc fan would be good ventilation all the time maybe attach a heatsink to it somehow and
put in a fan to blow the air around,maybe a few holes would be good
0

geetz
If you lose power very often, you should go for the deep cycle batteries as they will pay for themselves.
Deep cycling car batteries will kill them in short order. Also, the UPS will probably not be able to charge
any large battery properly (and this will result in loss of capacity over time due to sulphation). To
maintain the service life of your large battery, use a real charger after the blackout and then hook it
back up to the UPS to top off and maintain the charge for next time.
3 replies
0

ben.mcfadden geetz
Very good point. I don't lose power often, (perhaps once a year) but when I do, it often is out for an
hour or a little more. And I have done some current testing to see how well the UPS charges car
batteries, and it takes roughly 2 weeks to get to full charge after a complete drain. I do exactly what you
recommended and use a standard 10 amp car battery to charge the battery after a long blackout. I just
pull the fuse from the fuse holder to avoid damage to the UPS charging circuit.
0

ben.mcfadden ben.mcfadden
Correction. I use a standard 10 amp car battery charger to charge the battery after a long blackout.
0

geetz geetz
Also, it should be noted that deep‐cycling really means using only 60% of the battery's capacity, not
100%. Running any lead‐acid battery flat will damage it, even a deep‐cycle battery. The damage is
incremental, so you can go deeper sometimes and probably never notice the difference, but if you are
using the system a lot (like daily or even weekly) you should oversize your battery to keep its service life
long.
0

jeff‐o
This instructable would also be useful for anyone whose UPS battery has bit the dust (like mine). I went
out and got a bigger UPS, but I still have the old one... perhaps I'll modify it to use a bigger battery.
0

idrawupay
Reply Upvote
Isn't this basically the same setup used in a backup system for a sump pump? couldn't one of those
systems be adapted for this purpose?
0

troyml
Car batteries are not the best choice for this application. They really aren't intended to be deeply
discharged. They are designed to supply a lot of current for a short period of time and then immediately
be recharged. They will work, but they may not last as long as a deep discharge battery.
1 reply
0

ben.mcfadden troyml
Reply Upvote
Good point. But deep cycle batteries are far more expensive.

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